Government in Turmoil : A Country in Meltdown !
By Arif Ahmed
We are a country at the brink of meltdown â€" literally. The power crisis has now reached levels were fertilizer plants have closed, businesses are collapsing, farmers are losing crops and life in Bangladesh is becoming unbearable. We are now reading that thousands of people went out on demonstrations and attacked the upazila office of the West Zone Power Distribution Company at Bhanga on Saturday afternoon and Palli Bidyut Samiti office at Alfadanga on Friday night demanding power supply. SM Kobad Hossen, 50, a resident of Alfadanga, said they had received power hardly for two hours a day for a few days! Is this right Prime Minister! This is the start of more demonstrations to come!
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday promised to ensure electricity for all within 2020. Referring to the election manifesto of Awami League she said the government is working with a target of increasing power generation by 7000 MWs by the year 2013 and by 20,000 MWs by 2021. Under this programme, agreements have been signed for producing electricity from rental power stations at private initiatives at the first phase and for generating 1,000 MWs power at public sector. "Construction of these power stations is going on at a faster pace," she added.
Can we afford to wait for 2020! No. Sure the Government is hiring power stations to meet power demand, but whatever happened to the building of power stations under a public / private development initiative â€" the reality is that no private enterprise is going to invest significant sums in building power stations when there is no certainty as to as power will be generated!
What is also missing from the political rhetoric is the means of feeding these rental power stations â€" we are running short of gas and the current country coal production is nothing short of an embarrassment to a Government that has been in power for well over a year. For a year now we have heard nothing but political words!
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said measures were taken to import Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from Qatar to resolve this crisis. She said further "We are also considering with importance diversification of energy." That the present government is actively considering installing nuclear power plants to meet the increasing demand of power. In this regard, a team will be visiting Russia soon.
Does the Prime Minster realise the time frames for getting a nuclear power plant up and running and the costs involved! Does the Prime Minster understand that businesses and farmers cannot afford to install solar heating power systems! Does the Prime Minster realise that other countries are suffering from power shortages and so expecting to rely on the importation of overseas produced power is not a solution.
We are now a country that is on the verge of civil war with a Government that is unable or unwilling to act. Bangladesh is sitting on masses of coal reserves â€" enough to meet the countries power needs for many decades, by which time the energy world will be a different place (and Bangladesh will be a different place). Asia Energy is ready to mine Phulbari and has completed all preparation work. Yes, there will be local inconvenience, but even the people of Phulbari would accept that we must all work for the greater good of our nation. It is now a matter of working with the people of Phulbari to relocate people fairly and humanely.
The Finance Minister's realistic conclusion to go for open-pit coal mining published last week was seen by many to be a break through of common sense! We breathed a sigh of relief that our plight for energy was over. Asia Energy's proposal can no longer be ignored and must be put to the top of the political agenda.
Please Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, come live in the real Bangladesh world were business are fighting for survival, farmers are losing crops and your Bangladeshi people are melting in the heat of the day. Is this a country that can encourage international business investment? Bangladesh is not a country welcoming foreign investors.
The time has now come for the Government to move forward on the mining of coal at Phulbari in the most efficient manner or accept defeat as a political party that can lead the country, and let others with more ambition for Bangladesh and its people govern the country.
Prime Minister, the Bangladeshi people are speaking. They want power and they want power now. Finalise the coal policy and start mining Phulbari. This is the key solution to our countries power crisis and the means for you to restore faith in your Government.
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Arif Ahmed
E Mail : arif.ahmed@gmail.com
http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=312248
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Saturday promised to ensure electricity for all within 2020. Referring to the election manifesto of Awami League she said the government is working with a target of increasing power generation by 7000 MWs by the year 2013 and by 20,000 MWs by 2021. Under this programme, agreements have been signed for producing electricity from rental power stations at private initiatives at the first phase and for generating 1,000 MWs power at public sector. "Construction of these power stations is going on at a faster pace," she added.
Can we afford to wait for 2020! No. Sure the Government is hiring power stations to meet power demand, but whatever happened to the building of power stations under a public / private development initiative â€" the reality is that no private enterprise is going to invest significant sums in building power stations when there is no certainty as to as power will be generated!
What is also missing from the political rhetoric is the means of feeding these rental power stations â€" we are running short of gas and the current country coal production is nothing short of an embarrassment to a Government that has been in power for well over a year. For a year now we have heard nothing but political words!
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said measures were taken to import Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from Qatar to resolve this crisis. She said further "We are also considering with importance diversification of energy." That the present government is actively considering installing nuclear power plants to meet the increasing demand of power. In this regard, a team will be visiting Russia soon.
Does the Prime Minster realise the time frames for getting a nuclear power plant up and running and the costs involved! Does the Prime Minster understand that businesses and farmers cannot afford to install solar heating power systems! Does the Prime Minster realise that other countries are suffering from power shortages and so expecting to rely on the importation of overseas produced power is not a solution.
We are now a country that is on the verge of civil war with a Government that is unable or unwilling to act. Bangladesh is sitting on masses of coal reserves â€" enough to meet the countries power needs for many decades, by which time the energy world will be a different place (and Bangladesh will be a different place). Asia Energy is ready to mine Phulbari and has completed all preparation work. Yes, there will be local inconvenience, but even the people of Phulbari would accept that we must all work for the greater good of our nation. It is now a matter of working with the people of Phulbari to relocate people fairly and humanely.
The Finance Minister's realistic conclusion to go for open-pit coal mining published last week was seen by many to be a break through of common sense! We breathed a sigh of relief that our plight for energy was over. Asia Energy's proposal can no longer be ignored and must be put to the top of the political agenda.
Please Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, come live in the real Bangladesh world were business are fighting for survival, farmers are losing crops and your Bangladeshi people are melting in the heat of the day. Is this a country that can encourage international business investment? Bangladesh is not a country welcoming foreign investors.
The time has now come for the Government to move forward on the mining of coal at Phulbari in the most efficient manner or accept defeat as a political party that can lead the country, and let others with more ambition for Bangladesh and its people govern the country.
Prime Minister, the Bangladeshi people are speaking. They want power and they want power now. Finalise the coal policy and start mining Phulbari. This is the key solution to our countries power crisis and the means for you to restore faith in your Government.
-------------
Arif Ahmed
E Mail : arif.ahmed@gmail.com
http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidRecord=312248
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